ASHEVILLE - Pandas aren't what visitors would expect at a zoo specializing in animals of the Southern Appalachians, but this fall a creature by that name will join bears, coyotes and other more common mountain inhabitants at the WNC Nature Center.

City Council on Tuesday approved a $184,820 appropriation for the construction of the Red Panda Exhibit and Breeding Project at the city-owned nature center in East Asheville.

According to National Geographic, the red panda has given scientists taxonomic fits. In the past it had been classified as a relative of the giant panda, but now, researchers believe it as a closer relative to the raccoon. Currently, red pandas are considered members of their own unique family — the Ailuridae.

Red pandas are an endangered species with only 10,000 wild adults remaining in the world. Red panda populations are on the decline in the wild.

Before the 7-0 vote on the exhibit money, Councilwoman Julie Mayfield asked for a discussion.

"Red pandas are great and adorable. But I thought our Nature Center was focused on native animals?" Mayfield said.

Nature Center Director Chris Gentile called that a "great question."

Millions of years ago an animal similar to the red panda used to live in the Southern Appalachians, Gentile said, noting that in Tennessee fossilized remains of a primitive and now extinct animal, Bristol's Panda, were discovered. That is a relative of the red panda and an indicator the animals were once prevalent here, he said.

Bristol's panda is on the left, and red panda is on the right. Fossils of Bristol's panda have been found in the southern Appalachians.(Photo: Courtesy of WNC Nature Center)

Bringing them to the Nature Center is the next development in the center’s Prehistoric Appalachia-themed area of the park, city staff said. The exhibit will feature a den and breeding area, an interpretive exhibit and viewing areas.

Construction will begin this spring with the anticipation of bringing a pair to the exhibit in the fall. Eventually, the Nature Center staff would like to host a breeding pair.

Gentile said the current red panda range "is almost identical climate-wise to the Southern Appalachians so our pandas should feel very much at home in Asheville."

They are bamboo eaters, so the staff is cultivating a two-acre plot of the fast-growing grass, the director said.

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Laura Pearson, the animal curator at the WNC Nature Center, talks about their four week old owl.
Matt Burkhartt/mburkhartt@citizen-times.com

The Nature Center, located at 75 Gashes Creek Road, is open from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. seven days a week. Daily admission and season passes are available. For more information, visit wildwnc.org or call 828-259-8080.